1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a multilayer ceramic electronic component having excellent reliability and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, electronic components using a ceramic material, such as capacitors, inductors, piezoelectric elements, varistors, thermistors, and the like, include a ceramic body formed of a ceramic material, internal electrodes formed within the ceramic body, and external electrodes mounted on external surfaces of the ceramic body so as to be connected to respective internal electrodes.
Among ceramic electronic components, a multilayer ceramic capacitor is configured to include a plurality of laminated dielectric layers, internal electrodes disposed to face each other, having the dielectric layer interposed therebetween, and external electrodes electrically connected to the internal electrodes.
Multilayer ceramic capacitors have been widely used as components in computers and mobile communications devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, and the like, due to advantages thereof such as miniaturization, high capacitance, ease of mounting, and the like.
Recently, in accordance with the tendency for high levels of performance and compactness of devices in the electrical appliance and electronics industries, demand for small, high-performance, and inexpensive electronic components has increased. In particular, with advances in high-speed CPUs and small, lightweight, digitalized, multi-functional devices, research and development aimed at implementing a multilayer ceramic capacitor having characteristics such as miniaturization, thinness, high capacity, low impedance in a high frequency domain, and the like, have been actively conducted.
In particular, due to the thinning of internal electrodes, levels of connectivity thereof may be problematic, a factor in reductions in reliability of the multilayer ceramic electronic components.
[Related Art Document]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-311985